Personality Psychology Lecture 10 Personality, Culture, and Religion

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Personality PsychologyLecture 10Personality,
Culture, and Religion

• Professor Ian McGregor

Hallelujah Pachelbels Canon
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Final Quiz Questions

• How do Western and Eastern religious practices
  help people cope with goal conflict? (4 marks)
• Describe the evidence indicating that ideological
  extremes arise from goal regulation processes
  (i.e., personality trait, personal project,
  goal-priming, behavioral neuroscience, and
  neuroscience evidence). (4 marks)

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Rigid Conviction (at low implicit)(McGregor
Marigold, 2003, JPSP)
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Fascist Consensus (at low implicit)(McGregor,
Nail, Marigold, Kang, 2005, JPSP)
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Line Bisection Task Behavioral Neuroscience
Measure of Relative Cerebral Hemisphericity

• Please quickly look at each of the lines below
  and then make a short tick-mark on each line that
  divides it in half
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Behavioral Neuroscience
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r Left EEG (F7F8). Line-Bisection Task .38
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(No Transcript)
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Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC)
Uh-Oh detection and correction Left EEG, r
-.53, with ACC
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Academic Goal Frustration ? Religious Zeal

• Which religious belief system do you most
  identify with?
• Jewish (20)
• Christian (45)
• Muslim (5)
• Buddhist (10)
• Atheist (20)

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Religious Zeal (scale from 1-5)

• Confident
• Aspire to live and act according to
• Grounded in objective truth
• Most people would agree if understood
• If publicly criticized would argue to defend it
• Would support a war to defend
• Would sacrifice my life to defend
• Believe in my heart more correct than others

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Results
Academic goal frustration caused Overall zeal
3.0 ? 3.6 Support for war 1.8 ? 3.0
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Approach Personality x Academic Threat
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Religious Zeal and Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Religious Zeal is also negatively correlated with
ACC r -.63
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Defensive Pride and Idealism (pictures of
neoanalitic theorists deleted)
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Highest Happiness from Contemplating Perfect
Ideals and Abstract, Absolute Truth (pictures of
Greek philosophers deleted).
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Authoritarian IdeologyInsecure Attachment and
Narcissism (pictures of authoritarian politicians
deleted)
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What Causes Religious Extremism?
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Reactive Zeal

• Religious rapture is a unifying statesand and
  grit of selfhood disappear
• Excessively intense thoughts repress
  conflictmental dams

• Religious zeal is used as a displacement goal
• Caused by important goal frustrations
• Activates clear approach-motivation processes
• Relieves sensitivity to uncertainty and anxiety
• Liberates vigorous (myopic) action

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But, Healthy-Minded Religious Devotion, Too
traits
religious commitments
spiritual values
goals
roles
relationships
cultural
view of
myth history
self in future
Narrative Integrity, Meaning, and
Resilience Stories We Live By
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Philosophies, Religions, Cultures as Stories We
Live By

• What to do?
• Intrapersonal and interpersonal conflict
• Salvation from chaos?hope for peace
• Ritual reminders in community worship
• Eastern and Western solutions

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Western Culture and Religion from

• Greek idealism
• Pythagoras (582-500 BCE) Introspection and
  idealism from India to Greece Socratic (470-399
  BCE)/ Platonic (427-347 BCE) idealism for social
  utopia (Platos republic)make a better, more
  ideal world
• Abstract principles and categories, logical
  analysis, individually realized
• Highest happiness from contemplating
  self-realized, logical, abstract, truth (Plato
  and Aristotle)

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And from

• Judaic Monotheisms (J, C, I) Empowered
  Individuals
• Dominant, nature transcending, powerful, loving
  will of God. Humans in Gods image.
• Creeds, beliefs, the word, logos, people of the
  book. Ideals guide powerful action.
• World is very good. Let them have dominion
  over all the earth.
• God shapes history Exodus from Egyptian slavery
  as metaphor. Gods justice mercy as the
  righteous ideal
• Freedom, self-responsibility, align with Gods
  willfrom wrestling with God to social justice
  and prophetic power
• Salvation by alignment with Gods will, and yoke
  ego (Islam submission to God) thy will be
  done
• Mistakes imperfections covenant of forgiveness
  grace along way

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Exodus Deliverance from Bondage
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Self-esteem Canadian sample
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Independent self-construal (Markus Kitayama,
1991)
Father
Mother
x
x
x
x
x
Sibling
Self
X
X
x
X
X
X
X
x
x
x
Co-worker
Friend
x
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Self-Affirmation Manipulations that Decrease
Reactive Idealism

• Love
• Self-Worth
• Values Affirmation
• Group-Identification and Consensus
• (Note same domains of defense)
• Self-affirmations only work in the West
• Reactive Idealism only occurs in the West

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Salience of Dilemma after Conviction Expression
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Salience of Dilemma after Pride
Expression(McGregor, 2006, BASP)
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Self-Affirmations, Goal Theory, and Personal
Growth (in West)

• Recall, completed goals fade
• Approach state also relieves uh-oh (ACC) and
  avoidance vigilance
• Allow openness to other information
• Less defensive, more generous
• Paradox affirm self-goals so people can let them
  go.

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Healthy Minded Monotheism (J, C, I)

• Affirmation from a merciful God promotes healthy
  personality development (Erikson, Rogers, Maslow)
• Basic Trust Grace, B-love, chosen, no death,
  father
• Autonomy/Initiative Freedom to choose good and
  evil
• Industry/Self-worthy Gods love, intervention,
  suffering
• Identity Clear values of one God law guide
  action
• Intimacy brothers, compassion, examples,
  relations, e.g., Jesus, Mary, Muhammed.
• Generativity Cup runneth over with gratitude,
  empowered compassion, charity, justice, mercy,
  peace
• Integrity Energy, light, vision, vitality,
  actualization, peak experience.
• Cf. Hindu path of desire to path of renunciation..

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Islam

• Peace and Surrender
• From Chaos to Harmony in Mecca
• People of the Bookno doubt in this book
• Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammed (Koran and
  Hadith)
• 5 Pillars
• Creed
• Prayer
• Charity
• Fasting
• Pilgrimage

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Sick Souled Monotheism (in J, C, I)

• Punitive God of Sin, shame, guilt
• Non-affirming, threatening God causes insecurity,
  impedes healthy psychosocial development
• Introjection of shoulds
• Zealous idealism and intolerance as defense
• Insecurity and Battle for God (Karen Armstrong)
• Ideological warfare more common in the West.

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Self-esteem Japanese sample
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Interdependent self-construal
Mother
Father
x
X
x
X
x
x
x
Self
Sibling
x
X
x
X
x
x
x
Co-worker
X
x
Friend
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Eastern Cultures Religions India

• Hinduism (Oldest)
• Four Wants pleasure, success (path of desire),
  duty, Being (path of renunciation) Mukti
  liberation from limitations
• Let people accomplish lower stages, they will
  want more
• Four paths (Yogas yokes) to true Being, suited
  to personalities knowledge (O), love (A), work
  (E), meditation (I)
• Maya illusion vs. True Being (Atman and
  Brahman)
• Sounds Greek. Is this where Pythagoras got
  inspiration?
• Advocates balanced engagement, e.g., Dancing
  Shiva, i.e., Not identifying with fruits of
  action
• See notes field below for related reading

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Eastern Cultures Religions India

• Buddhism (566-486 BCE He Who is Awake)
• Pragmatic psychology for well-being
• Reaction against Hindu authority, ritual,
  tradition, fatalism, superstition.
• Four Noble Truths and Eightfold path (from
  wandering about to intentional living)
• Do not over-attach to goals and fruits of goals
• Meditation and mindfulness noticing and
  centering on breathing (left hemisphere!)
• Strive with awareness middle way
• See Shivas dance

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Eastern Culture Religion Chinese

• Confucius (552-479 BCE), after collapse of Chou
  dynasty, Period of Warring States, solve social
  chaos
• human animal without instincts requires
  tradition for social harmony lover of the
  ancients.
• Correct attitudes by following tradition
• Perspective-taking man-to-manness, compromise,
  social sensitivity
• Putting others at ease graciousness, face
• Propriety situational, relational, and role
  norms
• Doctrine of mean between extremes avoid pure
  values/ fanaticism
• concrete, holistic, collectivism (vs. abstract,
  analytical, individualism)

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Eastern Culture Religion Chinese and Japanese

• Taoism Lao Tzu (Grand Old Master) contemporary
  of Confucius
• Tao Te Ching (the Way and its power)order life
  in sync with natural world (not transcending and
  imposing will on it)
• Yin Yang allow contradictions, avoid clear
  categories, no absolutes (sometimes, some
  situations)
• Creative quiet, mystery, simplicity, humility,
  spontaneous flow
• No self-assertion, competition, or
  conqueringinstead, befriend emptiness (cups,
  doors, windows). Water metaphors.
• Zen Buddhism 12 Century Japan (Buddhism Taoism
  Zen)
• Inspired by Buddhas Lotus sermon, Koans (one
  hand clapping) meaning of Zen (lifted little
  finger, kicked a ball, slapped in face).
• Grapple with uncertain, experiential truth
  beneath words and categories. Kick habit of
  logical analysis. Silence and no words
• Contrast this to Judaic people of the book, the
  word, logos.

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Goal Theory Interpretation

• East and West agree that narrow ego-self striving
  is problematic
• Western solutions bolster identification with an
  ideal self, Eastern erase the self
• At best, both facilitate well-being, lack of
  defensiveness, openness, and compassion

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Compassion

• Axial age and Great Transformation (Armstrong)
• Emphasis on compassion discourages fanatical
  intolerance (West) and also aloof personal
  enlightenment (East)
• Non-divisive ideal that directly discourages
  ego-self-focus
• Compelling exemplars to emulate
• Theraveda?Mahayana Buddhism (Bodhisattvas)